The bouncy little chestnut – nicknamed Pumpkin – looks all set to be Charlotte Dujardin’s next superstar. Polly Bryan finds out more about him
Charlotte Dujardin first met her rising grand prix star Gio, known at home as Pumpkin, as a five-year-old while she was teaching a clinic in California.
Rider Charlotte Dujardin
“I first saw Gio, aka Pumpkin, aged five while I was doing a symposium in the USA in 2016, and I instantly fell in love with him. He wasn’t actually supposed to be there at all, but one horse had gone lame and he was the stand-in horse. I managed to strike a deal to buy him, and now I’m very lucky to co-own him with my good friend Renai Hart.
“Carl [Hester] was originally meant to buy a share in him, too, but pulled out because he thought he was too small at 16hh. I said, ‘Just wait until you see him go’, and Pumpkin proved Carl very wrong!
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